Pettyjohn brings gun to airport. And now he’s been charged.

The fact that you forget you have a gun on your person or in your immediate possession makes me doubt your competence to handle the weapon safely or responsibly.

From the News Journal: “State Sen. Brian Pettyjohn missed his flight Thursday after TSA found his handgun in his carry-on. Pettyjohn, a Republican from Georgetown, said he was headed to the Southern Regional Education Board conference in New Orleans on an early flight out of Salisbury Regional Airport and, in his rush to pack, forgot to properly stow his 9mm handgun.”

You cherish this right so much that you would fight to death over it, and yet you treat it with such disrespect.

UPDATE: He’s been charged. “[Pettyjohn] has been charged with having a firearm on an aircraft, the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office said Friday. […] The charge is a felony that carries a maximum of up to 10 years, according to the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office.”

The entire argument against gun control measures is located in the business of personal responsibility. That somehow you are going to be safer in the presence of someone who knows that they are doing with a gun than otherwise. This guy couldn’t even remember that his gun was in his luggage. I am hoping that they went outside to his car to make sure he didn’t leave a kid locked in a hot car.

I thought the same thing and realized I definitely didn’t feel safer with the prospect that he might be (I’m there 2-3 days every week). Merit Rules prevent employees from carrying, realizing he’s not a merit employee, it is I believe still illegal to carry on state property unless you’re law enforcement. (I may be mistaken on that last part)

He has small kids at home, so he’s either not a responsible gun owner (forgot a loaded gun was in a bag that was presumably NOT in a locked safe etc. out where kids could get it, even if it was in a closet) or he lied.